


Crystal Hunt

by Guardian_of_Hope



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragons, Gen, Rite of Passage, caverns of ilum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 18:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11606418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guardian_of_Hope/pseuds/Guardian_of_Hope
Summary: Anakin is facing the biggest challenge of his life, passing the Rite to become a senior Padawan.  He knows where he's going, he just didn't realize how he'd get there.





	Crystal Hunt

**Author's Note:**

> This is for one of my Tumblr followers, Tygermama, after I referenced a typo that read "Anakin had spent ten years training to be a dragon."
> 
> So yeah, not exactly a Jedi, right?
> 
>  
> 
> This is a one shot. There will NOT be a sequel.

“Remember, this is not a competition,” Master Vos said to the Padawans, all of whom were huddled close for warmth against the near blizzard that roared across the surface of Ilum.  “If you are ready for it, you’ll find it.  There is no shame in not being ready.”

Anakin glanced up at that, certain that Master Vos was eyeing him as he said it.  It wouldn’t surprise Anakin, after all, there had been a lot of noise about holding him back from the rest of his year for this test.  Only Master Obi-Wan’s staunch defense of him had seen him included in this, their most secretive and celebrated rite.

“Padawan Anakin,” Vos said, “are you ready?”

Anakin shuddered slightly, but pulled off his cloak, letting his master take it from him as he stepped forward, rolling his shoulders back and lifting his chin in defiance of the cold.  It was no longer a requirement to enter the great caverns wearing only a pair of shorts, but Anakin was determined to prove his worth in all ways.  He strode forward, forcing himself to hide the pain as he stepped off the slightly heated platform into the snow.

“I am ready, Master Vos,” Anakin said.

“Then run fast and listen well, Dragon-child,” Vos said.

Anakin ran forward, forcing himself through the snow to the caves, past the first, icy caverns and into the warmth of the hot springs beyond.  He rolled his shoulders again as the steam filled cavern warmed him, and he opened his mind, listening for the crystal song.

There were so many crystals around him, all of them whispering at the edges of his hearing.  None of them sang the song that lived in Anakin’s heart, the song he had been humming when Qui-Gon Jinn had entered his life and declared him a dragon-child.  It was a song Obi-Wan had taught him to hide away, something special just for him.

Now, for the first time in years, Anakin let himself whistle the simplistic medley of his song.

After a few moments, Anakin heard an answering hum deeper in the caverns and he moved forward.  Ferus Olin was due to be second in the caverns, and Anakin didn’t want to run into him here, where any deaths were blamed on the caverns and not the Padawans.  Anakin dismissed those thoughts, turning his attention back to the song, following it further into the caverns, where rock tunnels linked caves with and without hot springs.

It was just after Anakin realized that he’d been following his song in a circle and had stopped to rest when Ferus appeared, running with an intent expression on his face.  Anakin tried to move out of the way, but the tunnel was too narrow and they collided.  Anakin stumbled back, hearing Ferus’s cry of outrage, but he was distracted when the ground disappeared under his heel.  In moments, Anakin was falling through a hole he hadn’t noticed until then.  He flung his hands out, feeling them tear on the rocks as he tried to slow his fall.  Then he was in free air, then plunging into a pool of water.

Years of Obi-Wan and Bant Eerin’s obsession with teaching him to swim came roaring to the surface.  Anakin jerked and began swimming, letting gravity guide him in finding his way to the surface.  He broke free with a gasp, and then began coughing as he tried to breath.  Finally, he managed enough of a breath to see that he was near the center of a deep lake in a cavern coated with the crystals.  He shoved his hair out of his face as he turned, hearing his song not only in his heart and mind, but as it echoed through the crystals.

After a moment, Anakin picked the place that looked easiest to climb out from and swam there, grateful when it became clear that the lake was becoming shallower as he neared the shore.  Finally, he was standing out of the water, his full attention now on the crystal around him.  Anakin walked around the cave, staring about him in wonder.  There were no holes, no missing places where crystals had been claimed before.  The caves had opened a new cavern for new seekers, and Anakin would have the first crystal.

He found it after circumnavigating two thirds of the cavern, it was in the wall, not even half of it visible in the light that reflecting off the crystal covered surfaces.  When Anakin took it in his hand, however, it came out of the wall with little difficulty.  It was the size of his fist, egg shaped, and swirled with blue and green with a solid white band running the length of the crystal.

Cradling the crystal to his chest, Anakin looked around the cave, realizing after a moment that the only way in or out was up at the ceiling, either the whole he’d originally fallen through, or wherever the light originated from.

Anakin stared up, wondering how he could get out, knowing that no one would come hunting a Padawan in the caves.  Padawans got out on their own, or they never come out.

Anakin’s hand tightened, shoving the crystal into his chest, refusing to believe for a moment that he would be left here.  Suddenly, it was as if the crystal jerked in his hand, burrowing into his chest.  Anakin froze, but then relaxed as his song soared, almost acquiring words.  He didn’t fully understand what was happening, the end of the ritual in the caverns was never spoken of until it was time, but he looked down in awe as the crystal began to glow before sliding into his chest, resting just beside his heart.  Then his body began to grow.

Anakin doubled over, feeling the not-pain of something happening to his back, he twisted, trying to look, and realized that they were white, leathery wings.  Then he realized how much of his backside he was seeing and he jerked, surging to the lake to see.

He was a dragon, the culmination of ten years of training.  Not as big as Master Vos or Master Obi-Wan, much less the Grandmasters, but big enough, Anakin decided, with blue and green scales in a swirling pattern and a series of ridges down his neck.  His wings were pure white, as was his front left hand, which made Anakin snort.

A skim of frost shot over the lake, obscuring the view of Anakin’s shocked expression.

Most of the Masters worked with Fire, although there were some, like Master Eerin and Master Fisto who worked water, true to their physical species.  Ice dragons were incredibly rare, but not as rare as the Air dragons like Master Obi-Wan was.

Anakin touched the ice with a claw, and through back his head to laugh.  He had done it, he had proven himself in a way that could never be denied.  Shaking his wings, Anakin settled for a moment, there was one last piece to know.

The word in his song made Anakin want to cry.

Born outside the Republic, unknowing of his dragon soul, Anakin had a last name all his own.  When he’d been brought to the Temple by Jinn and Kenobi, his last name had been taken from him, explained the fact that his future name would come from his dragon soul.  If he failed the tests of a Padawan and never awoke his soul, then Anakin would be allowed to use his last name again.

Now, through some twist of fate, Anakin was Skywalker once again.  His family name was the name of his dragon soul.  He would always have that tie to his mother, and none of them could deny him that.

With a whoop of joy that sent ice and snow flying through the air, Anakin jumped upward, wings instinctively shooting down for that all important first wing beat.  One, two, and he was in the air, tracking air currents to a hole he’d been unable to see from the ground, but could now see was far wider than the hole he’d originally fallen through.  Anakin shot through the tunnel, straining his new wings to escape the cavern.

Finally he was free, he extended his wings into an instinctive glide as he spiraled around the mountain peak that stood guardian of the Ilum caverns.  After a few loops, Anakin spotted the others, Master Vos’s brilliant yellow scales flashing even in the clouds.  As Anakin headed that way, he was grateful the wind had died down, he probably would have managed an embarrassing accident if he’d had to contend with the storm that had been building when he’d entered the caverns.

It wasn’t until Anakin began to spiral downwards, just as he’d seen the Masters and Knights do at the Temple, that he realized the first of two problems.  He didn’t actually know how to land, and instinct, while a fine thing, probably wouldn’t save him from a crash.  Anakin made himself take a deep breath, trying to balance half-understood memory with half-understood instinct, but still managed more of a belly flop before the gathering of Masters and Padawans.

 _“Anakin?”_   Obi-Wan demanded as soon as the snow began to settle.

“Hi, Master,” Anakin replied, then jerked his head in surprise at the deep voice he possessed in that form.

“What happened?”  Master Vos asked.

Anakin ducked his head, “Uh, Padawan Olin and I ran into each other in one of the tunnels and I tripped through a hole neither of us had seen.  I fell into a deep lake in a cavern full of crystals, and that’s where I found mine.  I couldn’t find a way to walk or climb out, and I didn’t want to die, so I, um, merged with my crystal and became a dragon.”

“Very good,” Obi-Wan said, “I’m glad you’re safe.  Even if you do need to work on your landing.”

Anakin chuckled, “Yes Master.  I have a different problem right now though.”

“And what is that?”  Obi-Wan asked.

“I don’t know how to change back!”


End file.
